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From: Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: 25 Classic Books That Have Been Banned
Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2025 08:37:19 -0700
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On Sat, 19 Jul 2025 11:42:23 -0700, The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca>
wrote:

>On Thu, 26 Jun 2025 00:14:05 +0100, Robert Carnegie
><rja.carnegie@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>As usual, he was writing shortly before the end of
>>the world.  But I was asking about a reviewer of
>>Revelation, who seems to think that "Revelation"
>>now has happened, and all true Christians are safely
>>in Heaven with God.  I wondered how, in that case,
>>he got a book published about it down here on Earth.
>
>Just curious - what was the reviewer's background? Reason I ask is
>that that view doesn't correspond with any of the major Christian
>traditions. Yet only Christians would have thought much about the
>eternal state of Christians. (And I'm not aware of splinter Christian
>groups that teach that - and I have studied a fair bit on this - have
>I forgotten one?)

This appears to be an ambiguity.

The commentator writing the commentary was (probably) a
post-millenialist (possibly an amillenialist). This is, indeed, not a
very common position. Some of them (definitely not this one, though)
may elide into the modernist belief that the goal is not actually to
replace reality but rather for mankind to produce paradise for
himself.

I should point out that, since Heaven is eternal, that is, timeless,
there is only one eternal Now, so every Christian who ever was, is
now, or ever shall be (in our current reality) can certainly be in
Heaven as well. Indeed, with only an eternal Now, anything at any time
in Heaven must have been/will be there forever.

I believe I pointed out before that thinking this way is very
difficult For everyone.

Note: "sempiternal" is often used in these contexts to mean "lasts
forever" -- that is, time exists in this concept. The problem, of
course, is that only authors aware of the difference and precise in
their thinking always use "eternal" for "no time exists". This adds to
the confusion, as might be imagined.
--=20
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"